HSBC IRELAND has declined to comment on whether its parent company’s announcement of up to 30,000 job cuts will affect its workforce in Dublin.

Europe’s largest bank, which does not have a retail presence in the Republic of Ireland, employs about 500 people at its headquarters in Grand Canal Square in Dublin’s docklands in its securities services, corporate banking, private bank and insurance divisions.

HSBC yesterday announced plans to shed 25,000 jobs, in addition to the 5,000 job losses announced earlier this year. The cuts equate to roughly 10 per cent of HSBC’s total workforce.

While the bank declined to comment on plans for individual regions, it did announce plans to pull out of retail operations in Russia, Poland and parts of North America.

In certain countries where HSBC has both corporate and retail operations, such as Russia, it chose to maintain its corporate banking presence while withdrawing from retail services.

However, a spokesman declined to give any indication of future plans for Ireland.

HSBC has had a corporate banking presence in Ireland for more than 30 years. It employs approximately 100 people in Northern Ireland, some of whom are employed in the retail division.

Yesterday’s job cuts announcement came as the bank kicked off the financial reporting season in the UK with better than expected first-half results. Net income rose to $9.22 billion from $6.76 billion a year earlier, a 36 per cent increase.

Pretax profit at HSBC’s European unit tumbled 39 per cent to $2.15 billion. It accounted for 19 per cent of HSBC’s profit in the first half, compared with 32 per cent a year ago.

Pretax profit at the bank’s global banking and markets unit, which includes investment banking, fell 12 per cent to $4.81 billion, with its fixed income business particularly hit as a result of the euro zone debt crisis.– (Additional Reporting: Bloomberg)